EVGA GeForce GTX 970 ACX has misaligned GPU vs heatpipes

Interesting, the cooler of the EVGA GeForce GTX 970 ACX series graphics cards seems to be somewhat poorly designed. Well that or somebody forgot to look up the GPU placement on the PCB and didn't compare it to the cooler spec sheet. Photos from reviews with the cooler removed show clearly that the GPU is mounted way off the position of the heatpipes.

Redditors point out, the ACX cooler on last year's EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC had pretty much the same design with just two of the three direct-touch heatpipes actually touching the GPU. This could explain why EVGA's ACX cooler performs more poorly and noisier in reviews versus other custom cooling solutions. They are missing almost a third of the cooler performance.

Above examples where you can see the problem, basically only two pipes are in contact.

And above an example from the ASUS Strix, the way it should look like (photo's are courtesy of the respective owners Bit-Tech).

You just have to wonder, how stuff like that passes QA (quality analysis) control? Didn't they really notice that when designing the GPU placement on the PCB they needed to compare that with the cooler specs ? Now in defense of EVGA, the cooler still offers enough cooling performance, so if you own one .. don't worry. It's just that it could have been a good notch better isn't it? It will also be interesting to see how this pans out with the EVGA GTX 980 ACX cards, with a similar cooler and PCB design, that product might be effected similar to the EVGA GeForce GTX 970 ACX series.

EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN-Z Graphics Cards - 05/28/2014 02:14 PM
EVGA unleashes the most powerful graphics card. The GeForce GTX TITAN Z is a gaming monster, built to power the most extreme gaming rigs on the planet. With a massive 5760 cores, 12 GB of 7 Gbps GDDR5...

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 with 6GB Available - 03/23/2014 08:46 AM
EVGA has added a SKU in their GeForce GTX 780 line-up, this model comes with 6 GB of graphics memory making the card a bit more future proof allowing more eye candy and UHD resolutions a notch better...

EVGA GeForce GTX 750 and GTX 750 Ti - 02/18/2014 05:36 PM
EVGA released their GeForce GTX 750 and GTX 750 Ti line up as well. Step up to EVGA GeForce GTX gaming with the new GTX 750. Its ultra-efficient, next-gen architecture makes the GTX 750 the weapon of...

#4919921 Posted on: 09/23/2014 08:25 AM
Hmm, looks like something went wrong there. I wouldn't be surprised if the performance suffered if all the 970 ACX models are like that.

naedtrax
Junior Member

Posts: 9
Joined: 2013-07-30

#4919929 Posted on: 09/23/2014 08:35 AM
Official EVGA response.

"The way the EVGA GTX 970 ACX heat sink was designed is based on the GTX 970 wattage plus an additional 40% cooling headroom on top of it. There are 3 heat pipes on the heatsink – 2 x 8mm major heat pipes to distribute the majority of the heat from the GPU to the heatsink, and a 3rd 6mm heatpipe is used as a supplement to the design to reduce another 2-3 degrees Celsius. Also we would like to mention that the cooler passed NVIDIA Greenlight specifications.

Due to the GPU small die size, we intended for the GPU to contact two major heat pipes with direct touch to make the best heat dissipation without any other material in between.

We all know the Maxwell GPU is an extremely power efficient GPU, our SC cooler was overbuilt for it and allowed us to provide cards with boost clocks at over 1300MHz. EVGA also has an “FTW” version for those users who want even higher clocks.

Regarding fan noise, we understand that some have expressed concerns over the fan noise on the EVGA GTX 970 cards, this is not a fan noise issue but it is more of an aggressive fan curve set by the default BIOS. The fan curve can be easily adjusted in EVGA PrecisionX or any other overclocking software. Regardless, we have heard the concerns and will provide a BIOS update to reduce the fan noise during idle.

Thanks,
EVGA"

In short they know it's a **** design and are trying to get out of it

Hilbert Hagedoorn
Don Vito Corleone

Posts: 31287
Joined: 2000-02-22

#4919932 Posted on: 09/23/2014 08:37 AM
Yeah we have seen EVGA statements like that in the recent past. Talking their way out of things. Laughable is all I can say.

Corbus
Senior Member

Posts: 2197
Joined: 2009-04-27

#4919933 Posted on: 09/23/2014 08:39 AM
Could it be that they used the same cooler thats on the 980 to cut down costs? Seeing that the 970 doesnt emanate as much heat,they thought it will do ok ...either way, d**k move.Curious to see how it looks on the 980.

TheDeeGee
Senior Member

Posts: 5313
Joined: 2010-08-28

#4919935 Posted on: 09/23/2014 08:40 AM
All you need is a reference design card and a Arctic Accelero Xtreme

They are the Noctuas of GPU Cooling.

PhazeDelta1
Moderator

Posts: 15615
Joined: 2010-09-12

#4919936 Posted on: 09/23/2014 08:42 AM
Damn. Evga is batting zeros.

You can see part of the gpu is coming in contact with the base of the cooler. It also looks like the gpu isn't even touching that third heat pipe. That's no bueno.

Corbus
Senior Member

Posts: 2197
Joined: 2009-04-27

#4919942 Posted on: 09/23/2014 08:54 AM
All you need is a reference design card and a Arctic Accelero Xtreme

They are the Noctuas of GPU Cooling.

Yea, i started buying gigabyte thinking they are the same basically with their windforce coolers but no way.Arctic cooling is better and also a lot quieter.

Definitely my next gpu will be reference with Accelero on it.

naedtrax
Junior Member

Posts: 9
Joined: 2013-07-30

#4919944 Posted on: 09/23/2014 08:57 AM
I just noticed that one of those heatpipes aren't even "complete" and doesn't extend all the way.

#4919952 Posted on: 09/23/2014 09:14 AM
Fatum Force or Law of Karma
They make a mistake when they, took somebodys work
The EVGA Precision from Russian guy and they dont give him credit or some Money

The Law of Karma -> Watch the movie HellRaiser

Maby they don't belive in Gods Force but It belives in Them

Robbo9999
Senior Member

Posts: 766
Joined: 2012-10-07

#4919960 Posted on: 09/23/2014 09:24 AM
Official EVGA response.

"The way the EVGA GTX 970 ACX heat sink was designed is based on the GTX 970 wattage plus an additional 40% cooling headroom on top of it. There are 3 heat pipes on the heatsink – 2 x 8mm major heat pipes to distribute the majority of the heat from the GPU to the heatsink, and a 3rd 6mm heatpipe is used as a supplement to the design to reduce another 2-3 degrees Celsius. Also we would like to mention that the cooler passed NVIDIA Greenlight specifications.

Due to the GPU small die size, we intended for the GPU to contact two major heat pipes with direct touch to make the best heat dissipation without any other material in between.

We all know the Maxwell GPU is an extremely power efficient GPU, our SC cooler was overbuilt for it and allowed us to provide cards with boost clocks at over 1300MHz. EVGA also has an “FTW” version for those users who want even higher clocks.

Regarding fan noise, we understand that some have expressed concerns over the fan noise on the EVGA GTX 970 cards, this is not a fan noise issue but it is more of an aggressive fan curve set by the default BIOS. The fan curve can be easily adjusted in EVGA PrecisionX or any other overclocking software. Regardless, we have heard the concerns and will provide a BIOS update to reduce the fan noise during idle.

Thanks,
EVGA"

In short they know it's a **** design and are trying to get out of it

Referring to the bit in bold, I thought the same as EVGA when I saw the pics (even before reading the EVGA statement that you posted). The GPU die is not big enough to span the entire width of all 3 heat pipes, if they had shifted the GPU core to the right to contact all 3 heatpipes then there would have been 2 'gaps' (the bits inbetween the heatpipes) in contact with the core, whereas how they have designed it they only have 1 'gap' which is more efficient (a greater area of the die covered by heatpipe vs covered by aluminium block). As they say, the 3rd pipe (thinner pipe) is just there as a supplement to draw a little more heat away from the aluminium block. So, I don't think this off-centre die placement is an error, it's just part of their intended design to maximise percentage of die area covered by heatpipe.

TheDeeGee
Senior Member

Posts: 5313
Joined: 2010-08-28

#4919963 Posted on: 09/23/2014 09:32 AM
I just noticed that one of those heatpipes aren't even "complete" and doesn't extend all the way.

Wow EVGA, wow.

Seems all fine to me.

It's the 6 MM one that's a bit shorter because there is a small raised area.

Hilbert Hagedoorn
Don Vito Corleone

Posts: 31287
Joined: 2000-02-22

#4919964 Posted on: 09/23/2014 09:33 AM

So, I don't think this off-centre die placement is an error, it's just part of their intended design to maximise percentage of die area covered by heatpipe.

I doubt that.

You don't design and purchase a brand new revision 2.0 ACX three heatpipe cooler solution and then use only 2 of them just because it is convenient or 'by GPU design'. If it was done right the pipes would have been narrower and closer to each other, just like the example photo of the ASUS Strix in this post. I mean THAT is how it is supposed to be.

TheDeeGee
Senior Member

Posts: 5313
Joined: 2010-08-28

#4919965 Posted on: 09/23/2014 09:33 AM

Referring to the bit in bold, I thought the same as EVGA when I saw the pics (even before reading the EVGA statement that you posted). The GPU die is not big enough to span the entire width of all 3 heat pipes, if they had shifted the GPU core to the right to contact all 3 heatpipes then there would have been 2 'gaps' (the bits inbetween the heatpipes) in contact with the core, whereas how they have designed it they only have 1 'gap' which is more efficient (a greater area of the die covered by heatpipe vs covered by aluminium block). As they say, the 3rd pipe (thinner pipe) is just there as a supplement to draw a little more heat away from the aluminium block. So, I don't think this off-centre die placement is an error, it's just part of their intended design to maximise percentage of die area covered by heatpipe.